“Lance, what the hell is your problem?” JC yelled at the younger man as he shrugged on his shirt for the next set of the concert. He then turned to look at Lance as he waited for his answer. Lance had managed to change pants, but stood shirtless, staring off into space. “HELLO?” JC called as he snapped his fingers in front of Lance’s eyes. He was getting irritated. He and the rest of the group, including Lance, hadn’t worked for months putting together the concert only for Lance to come down with a case of stage fright.
“Ashleigh,” Lance simply stated with a distant look in his eyes.
“Ashleigh? Lance, look I know you are worried about Ashleigh and all, but there are tens of thousands of fans out there counting on us!” JC exclaimed.
“Jayce, calm down man.” Joey scolded him.
“Ashleigh is in the audience,” Lance finally spoke up.
“What?” JC, Joey, and Chris exclaimed. Justin face broke out into a huge grin. Lance saw his face and looked at him in question. JC saw the look on Lance’s face and turned to look at Justin also.
“You knew? Would someone like to fill me in on what is going on?” JC asked in exasperation.
“Monica knew how upset Lance was that their trip to Mississippi got canceled, so she called and begged Mrs. Reynolds to let Ashleigh come to the concert. Then she and Keeley have been making plans like crazy. They snuck Ashleigh in here this afternoon while you guys were worrying about my knee,” Justin informed them with a huge grin on his face. He loved being the only one that knew what was going on.
Both Lance and JC gave Justin a look and Lance replied, “ I’ll talk to you later about this!”
“Well man, pull it together alright! You’re going to knock one of us over if you don’t concentrate!” JC told his bandmate just before they ran back on stage to continue the show.
Lance did finally pull himself together, for fear of not making it to see the next concert. He did have a permanent smile on his face for the rest of the concert though.
“Thank you Jacksonville! We love you!” Joey yelled as he blew the audience a kiss, then turned to follow his bandmates off the stage.
“I don’t think I will EVER get over the rush I get from a concert!” Justin exclaimed as he danced around backstage.
“OMIGOD! IT’S NSYNC,” the guys heard a female’s voice ring out through the air.
“Oh no,” Justin groaned and stopped dancing and began to look around for their security guards. He finally spotted them about the same time a person jumped on his back. His eyes flew open wide, terror coursed through his veins. He looked at his bodyguards for help, but they were all looking on smiling. He soon realized that all of his bandmates were laughing. “What the hell?” he asked to himself. The leaned back and the person jumped down off his back. He quickly spun around to come face to face with his fiancé.
“Miss me babe?” she asked giggling.
“Keeley!” he exclaimed and wrapped his arms around her. “You scared me half to death!”
“That was a great concert you guys!” Keeley told them, when Justin finally released his death grip on her. A chorus of “thank you’s” was her reply. Then Lance walked up to her.
“Thank you so much for helping get Ashleigh here!” He told her before pulling her into a hug.
“You’re welcome. We thought that you might like that. Though I didn’t know that it would cause you to forget dance moves,” she laughed and playfully punched him in the shoulder. The blonde began to blush a deep shade of red.
“I was having one of Monica’s ‘blonde moments’. Speaking of Monica, where are her and Ashleigh anyway?”
“Planning out the best method of stalking a certain blonde haired, green eyed bass singer,” Ashleigh said as she and Monica walked up behind Justin. Lance couldn’t help but smile when he saw her. He rushed over to her and picked her up swinging her around. “Oh my gosh, put me down! Between you spinning me around and all the screaming teenies out there I think I am going to be sick!” she joked with him. He laughed and set her down.
“I am so glad that you are here! I didn’t think your mom was ever gonna let you come back out here!”
“Believe me, it took a lot of convincing, but Monica here wasn’t about to take no for an answer!” she said with a grin. Lance looked over at his wife for the first time. She had a huge smile on her face. Monica felt great that she and Keeley had brought a smile back to Lance’s face.
He walked over and wrapped his arms around Monica’s waist before whispering “thank you,” to her and then leaned down to give her a quick kiss.
“Don’t mind us or anything,” Chris told the couple.
“Oh they don’t,” Keeley told him as Monica pulled Lance back for a longer kiss. The group burst out laughing. Lance looked up with a confused expression on his face.
“What?” He asked innocently. This made the group laugh even more. He just shook his head in wonder.
“Well ladies we need to go hit the showers. Just hang out back here alright?” Joey told the trio.
“Sure no problem. Now I finally get a chance to explore this place!” Ashleigh exclaimed. Since she had been stuck in Johnny’s office before the show she didn’t get to see too much of the stadium.
“Have fun. Ash, I’m really glad you’re here,” Lance told her with a smile before he took off after the rest of the guys. He did not want to be last in the shower line, there was no telling what he’d find.
“Can you imagine what it would be like to be up here with tens of thousands of fans sitting out there?” Keeley asked as she pointed out into the now empty stadium. Monica and Ashleigh were sitting on the edge of the stage staring off in the direction Keeley was pointing. Keeley and Monica had both been up on the stage before, but only before or after concerts, never while all the fans were there. Also with the larger fan base Nsync had, they now were only playing stadiums, areas up to three times bigger than their last tour and six times bigger than their first tour.
“I would be a ball of nerves!” Monica thought outloud.
“When aren’t you a ball of nerves?” Justin asked as he walked out on the stage, Lance following close behind. Monica turned her head and stuck her tongue out at Justin and laughed. Lance then walked over and sat down in between his wife and his best friend. He put his arm around both of their shoulders and began to stare out into the vast expanse of empty seats. He spotted a couple of people cleaning up the floors. He didn’t envy those people at all. He knew the mess that was made during their concerts. Lance thought back to their last tour when tons of confetti was shot out onto the audience and all over the stage. Every janitor’s nightmare.
“What are y’all two doin’?” he asked, his southern roots were still evident in his voice, though the two girls, both being from the South themselves, never paid it any attention.
“We were just thinking about how different it is from this angle,” Ashleigh told him.
Lance sat for a moment in silence staring out over the vast sea of seats. “You know it’s funny, I don’t normally think about it.” He sat for a minute more in awe. “That’s a lot of people!”
“I don’t see any people!” Joey exclaimed as he walked up behind the group and jumped off the stage to face his friends.
“We were talking about the people that filled these seats earlier,” Justin told him.
“Uh ok,” Joey looked at them as if they were a little nuts.
“So, what’s up for tonight?” The group heard Chris ask. The group turned around to see JC and Chris emerge onto the stage.
“I’m ready to partay!” Joey exclaimed.
“I’m up for that,” JC told them
“Me too,” Chris added in.
Lance was just about to agree when thoughts of Mrs. Reynolds floated through his mind. He could hear her now, screaming at him for taking her daughter to a club and endangering her health. He swallowed the lump that had grown in his throat before telling his friends, “Uh, I’m kind of tired, and hungry. I think I just want to grab a bite to eat.”
Monica looked at her husband with concern. He turned and gave her a look that explained everything. “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea to me. Why don’t you guys go hit a club. We’ll just go grab a bite to eat.”
“Alright, but you guys are missing out!” Joey exclaimed. “Come on Kee, Justin!” He walked up and grabbed Keeley around the waist and lifted her to the ground.
“Uh, actually I’m kind of tired too. Mind if I join you?” Justin asked Lance.
Keeley looked up when she heard her fiancé. “Oh uh, Joe can I take a rain check.”
“Sure babe,” he said as he let her go. She walked over to Justin and slipped her arm around his waist.
“I’m gonna go with you guys,” she told him with a smile.
“Well, we’ll see you guys later,” Ashleigh told the other three. The waved over their shoulders as they disappeared through the door.
Ashleigh looked wide-eyed at Justin when the waitress was done placing all the food on the table. The small group was all piled into a round corner booth at the back of one of the few restaurants still open at this time of night, Denny’s. Keeley couldn’t help but giggle at Ashleigh’s expression. She knew exactly what the other girl was staring at. Justin had enough food spread around him to feed everyone at the table and still have food left over. She also knew that within just a few minutes Justin would have consumed all the food.
“So Ashleigh how is everything at home?” Lance asked, pulling the brunette’s attention away from Justin, who was already shoving food in his mouth.
“Things are great. I think aliens took over my mom though,” she laughed. The rest of the group had to laugh at that comment.
“How have you been feeling?” Monica asked. She knew how badly her husband wanted to ask that question.
He tried not to seem overly concerned, but whenever it came to Ashleigh he turned into a giant worrywart. It seemed to him that every time he saw her, she was thinner and paler. He didn’t want to point it out to her and bring down her self-esteem. Her happiness was very important. One thing still haunted his mind though.
“Well, not really, I don’t have time in my life for stuff like that,” she replied her smile fading from her face. The twinkle that had been in her eyes just a moment before disappeared and cold eyes replaced them.“But you do believe in God right?” Lance asked.
She still wasn’t saved…
“I’m ok,” she told them. “I’ve just been really tired, I think this round of chemo took a lot more out of me than the last one did. I think I am still experiencing some side effects, but hey I am just glad that the round is over!” she finished with a smile on her face. Lance couldn’t help but notice that the smile wasn’t reflected in her eyes. His bright green eyes quickly scanned the table and he noticed that all Ashleigh had gotten to eat was a salad and she had only taken about two bites out of it.
“Aren’t you hungry?” he asked, motioning to the barely touched snack in front of her.
“Not really. It’s kind of a side effect of the chemo. I just don’t have much of an appetite. And when I actually do eat half the time I can’t keep it down.” She slightly grimaced in remembrance.
Justin stopped in mid-stride with his fork poised in the air in front of his open mouth. A look of disgust crossed his face as he replaced his fork on the plate. “Thanks for the pretty picture Ash. I think I’ve lost my appetite.”
“Babe look in front of you!” Keeley said between giggles. Justin, look at the plates in front of him and looked back up at her with a questioning look.
“What?”
“You’ve already eaten like ¾ of your food! You’re not going to starve by any means!” He stuck his tongue out at her as the rest of his friends laughed at him.
The months flew by and before any of them knew it the tour was coming to a close. The last concert was scheduled for December 21 in Mississippi. Lance was excited because Ashleigh was going to be able to attend the last concert on the tour. He was even more elated when he received a phone call from his mom a few days earlier.
“Honey how would you like to spend Christmas here with us?” Diane asked her son.
“Yeah mom that sounds great,” Lance told his mother. He was sitting backstage at the venue waiting for the sound check.
“As a matter of fact, why don’t you invite everyone to spend it with us. We have plenty of room and you know how much I like to have people around for Christmas,” she said brightly.
“That’d be awesome, I’ll ask ‘em tonight and I’ll let you know tomorrow.”
“OK honey. Well I can’t wait to see you soon. I miss you,” she told her son.
“I miss you too mom. I’ve gotta run, we’re about ready to warm up. I love you.”
“I love you too Lance.”
Everyone was more than happy to spend Christmas with Lance’s family. It was going to be the first Christmas they were all going to be able to spend together. Usually they all were in different places visiting family or taking care of business.
“So what do you wear in Mississippi around Christmas? Ooh, will it snow?” Keeley asked Lance, her eyes growing wide with excitement at the thought of snow.
“I wish! Probably not though. Usually it’s in the 40’s or 50’s so you’ll want to bring plenty of sweaters and a warm jacket,” Lance told his friend.
“Well that’s better than an Orlando Christmas! It’s hard to get in the Christmas spirit when it’s in the mid 70’s! It’s hard to think of tank tops and shorts as winter wear!” Keeley being from the northwest was used to thick cozy sweaters and snow-capped mountains; a far cry from sunny Florida that’s for sure.
The last show of the tour went off without a hitch. All of Lance’s family, as well as Ashleigh and her family were there. JC congratulated Lance that he actually made it through the show, with Ashleigh there, and didn’t harm himself or the other four. Keeley and Monica had stayed on the tour most of the time with group. They had left a couple of times for various reasons. Monica was trying to help Keeley plan a wedding while they were touring. They had to leave a couple of times for Keeley to pick out bridesmaids dresses, have the finishing touches put on her wedding gown, and meetings with caterers and anything else that needed to be done. Justin went back to Florida to help whenever he had a chance. He often found himself flying in that morning and flying back out the next morning to meet back up with the other guys for another concert. Lance and Monica’s house still wasn’t totally decorated when they had left. So the two girls went back for about a week and worked non-stop on the house, and finally got everything done. They took pictures of every room so they could show Lance what the house looked like.
After the show everyone went back to Lance’s parents’ house and discussed their plans for the upcoming days.
“Jim and I didn’t go get a tree,” Diane informed the group. “We knew how much Lance always loved doing it, so we decided to wait and let all of you go and pick one out.”
“That sounds like fun!” Keeley cheered clapping her hands. Christmas was her favorite time of year and picking out the tree was one of her favorite parts. So they decided the next day they were going tree shopping.
“I claim shotgun!” Justin screamed as he ran across the yard.
“Like hell you do!” Monica screamed as she ran after him. She jumped on his back about the time his hand touched the handle on the van that Lance had rented. He figured since all of Nsync as well as Ashleigh, Keeley, and Monica would be spending a lot of time together they would need a car big enough to carry them all. The remaining members of the group stood on the steps and watched the two youngest members horse around on the front yard.
“Should I go stop them now before it gets out of hand?” Lance asked the others.
“Nah, maybe if she beats him up some, he will be quite today,” JC laughed.
“Why should I let you sit in the front?” Justin asked as he spun the blonde-headed girl around.
“I get car sick!” Monica exclaimed. Justin quickly set her down, then twirled around to look her in the eyes.
“You’re bluffing,” he said as his ice blue eyes narrowed and his face inched closer to her until they were nose to nose.
“Do you want to take the risk?” Monica said with a sly grin on her face. About this time the rest of the group walked up and began to pile into the van.
“I tell you…if she throws up in the van you will be the one cleaning it up.” Chris informed him right before he too jumped into the van. Justin continued his stare down with Monica.
“You’re bluffing,” he repeated.
“You’ll never know,” Monica told him as she reached out and opened the door. She quickly climbed in and locked it before he even had a chance to move. She pressed her nose up against the window and made faces at him before she stuck out her tongue. He gave her a “go-to-hell” look before plopping down in the first seat in the back of the van.
“Poor J. You get no respect,” Joey laughed from the seat behind. He then gave Monica an air high five.
“Are you two about done?” Lance asked his wife. Monica nodded and then reached over and kissed him on the cheek. “Can we go now?”
“Hey you are the one driving. We are waiting on you,” Monica informed him. Lance shook his head and chuckled.
“You are in rare form today.”
About half and hour later they were out in the country pulling into a local Christmas tree farm.
“This is where we have always bought our Christmas trees,” Lance informed the rest of the passengers as he stopped the van.
The group piled out of the van. Lance led the way up to the house. It didn’t take long for them to be signed in and issued an ax to cut down the tree.
As they exited the house they came to a set of arrows. One pointed straight and read “North Farm,” the one pointing right said “East Farm” and the last sign said “West Farm” on the arrow pointing left.
“We usually get our tree from the east farm,” Lance told the group.
“Alright, then let’s start there,” Justin replied.
They all followed Lance and soon were surrounded by rows and rows of Christmas trees. They stopped and turned in a full circle admiring the forest around them.
“How about this one,” Chris said as he walked over to a tall firtree. He spread his arms out as if he were Vanna White, showcasing the tree.
“Yeah, that one looks pretty nice,” Joey said nodding.
“No no, that one won’t work at all,” Keeley said. She gave Chris an ‘are you crazy’ look as she walked past the tree.
“Why not?” Chris asked as he trotted after her.
“Are you serious? Ok, well first off it is sooo not symmetrical and it’s missing a ton of branches!”
“Ok…” Chris replied puzzled. He thought it looked pretty good, but what did he know. He was just a guy.
“Oh! Oh!” JC pointed at another tree. He looked like a little boy with the sparkle in his eyes. “That one is perfectly symmetrical.” Keeley walked around the tree eyeing it suspiciously.
“Absolutely not,” she told him firmly.
“What is wrong with that tree?” Chris asked. He was still confused.
“It’s not tall enough.”
“Riiight,” Chris nodded. “I…um…I knew that.” He turned and looked at JC and shrugged. JC looked hurt. They continued walking. A couple of feet later Joey thought he had found the perfect tree.
“You guys this one is perfect!” he exclaimed. Everyone agreed and began to oh and ah over the tree. That is until Keeley walked up. She gave it one glance and shook her head and began to walk off.
“Kee, you have got to be kiddin' me baby,” Justin said as he jogged up behind her and caught her arm. The rest of the group was right behind him. “That tree was tall, symmetrical, full of branches…what was wrong with it?”
“That tree is not the right color green,” she told him matter-of-factly before shrugging her shoulders.
“You mean I have to spend every Christmas for the rest of my life dealing with you and your Christmas tree fetish?” Justin sighed.
“It’s not a fetish!” Keeley replied exasperated. “The tree has to be perfect, that is all there is too it.”
Monica sighed and leaned back against her husband before speaking. “This is going to be a long day.”
“Come on, let’s keep looking. Besides there are two other areas to explore, I am sure the perfect tree is out there somewhere,” Keeley encouraged the group before grabbing Justin’s hand and continuing their walk through the woods. Justin looked back at the group over his shoulder, a pleading look for help present on his face. Everyone groaned before following after the couple.
“You know when I signed up to come on this little excursion I didn’t know I was going with the ‘Christmas Tree Queen’ and that I would never be going home,” Ashleigh informed Lance.
“Don’t worry Ash. I mean how much longer could it possibly take?” the blonde replied smiling as he slung his free arm over her shoulder.
Hours later they still didn’t have a tree. They had already gone through the entire east farm and were halfway through the north farm. They had heard every excuse from Keeley that was humanly possible.
“That one has too many bare spots,” she spoke as she pointed them out.
“Oh my gosh that one is just ugly! What are you people thinking?” her nose wrinkled in disgust.
“That one is too sheared. I mean look at it. It is way to skinny and lopsided!”
“Too tall.”
“This tree is shorter than Chris.” Chris rolled his eyes and walked away.
“Nope, too dry. It’ll die before Christmas.”
“Too dark of a green.”
“Too light of a green.”
One time she had gotten their hopes up, “That is a pretty shade of green.” Only to crush them in the next sentence. “But it is the wrong color green for a Christmas tree.”
Ashleigh and Monica had practically begged the guys to let them beat her up.
“Come on Lancie…let me see the ax. I promise I will give it right back.”
Lance held the ax up and showed her every angle of it. “See it?”
“Quit being a smart ass…give me the damn ax!”
“No, Ashleigh. Calm down.”
“Oh come on! You can’t tell me you aren’t tired of this,” Monica pleaded with him.
“I didn’t say that,” the blonde man replied.
“Then give us the ax!” Ashleigh exclaimed as she jumped on Lance’s back. Lance looked at JC and shook his head before handed the ax over to the older man.
“I don’t know what is with these people today. Ashleigh, Justin, Keeley, Monica…they have all lost their minds,” Lance told him.
“Personally I am on the girls’ side in this matter. If Keeley doesn’t find the ‘perfect’ tree soon I am going to hurt her!” JC exclaimed.
“This is it!” they heard Keeley exclaim. The entire group rushed over to the tree that she was admiring. “I love it!” The other members of the group gave it a good look over.
“Are you absolutely sure?” JC asked her. He wasn’t about to cut down the tree only for her to decide that she didn’t like it as soon as it hit the ground.
“Yes! It is perfect,” she replied happily.
“I don’t like it,” Monica spoke up and nudged Ashleigh with her elbow. She decided that she was going to have some fun and torture Keeley for awhile. She wanted to let her friend feel the way that she had been feeling for the past several hours.
“Yeah I don’t either. It’s ugly, the wrong color green, it’s not the right height, it’s…” Ashleigh started but was quickly cut off. Lance walked up behind the two girls and clamped his hands over their mouths. He knew the two of them all too well and he knew exactly what they were up too.
“The tree is perfect and these two love it. Don’t you girls?” Lance asked them. Both giggled and nodded. He then removed his hands before leaning in next to his wife’s ear and whispering, “I thought you and Keeley were dangerous together. I think if at all possible you and Ashleigh are even worse!” She gave him a huge smile before wrapping her arms around his neck and leaning in to kiss him. Ashleigh who had heard what Lance had said laughed and held her hand up. Monica gave her a high five over Lance’s shoulder and then pulled away from the kiss. “You two are evil,” Lance told Monica before quickly tickling her and going to help the other guys cut down the tree.
After much work and the threat of several people losing limbs, the tree was finally cut and being carried to the car.
“Tell me again…why is it that we can’t just drag the tree.” Joey huffed. The tree that Keeley had picked out was a massive tree. It was tall, with plenty of branches full of the right color green foliage. It was also heavy.
“Because you might mess it up if you drag it. I don’t want any of the branches broken!” Keeley reminded him.
Soon they made it back to the house where the office was. Lance went inside and paid for the tree and returned the ax, though Ashleigh thought it might come in handy on the ride home. They then began the process of tying the tree down on top of the van.
“Please don’t scratch up the van. Remember it isn’t mine,” Lance forewarned them.
“Don’t worry man, we’re professionals!” Joey exclaimed with a grin. A moment later Lance heard the sickening sound of paint scratching when Joey and Justin managed to drop the back end of the tree allowing it to scrape down the side of the van.
“Ughh, is this day over yet?!” Lance exclaimed as he clapped a hand over his eyes.
They pulled into Lance’s parent’s driveway and began the task of carefully taking the tree off the top of the van. The entire ride home they’d all heard about how Lance wasn’t going to get his deposit back on the van. It was a lecture none of them wanted repeated.
It took three of the guys to lug the Christmas tree into the living room. Lance’s mom ran to get the tree stand as the guys fought the doorway to pull the tree through. She positioned it in front of the living room window just in time. Seconds later the trunk of the tree slammed into the stand. Chris bent down and screwed the base of the tree in on four sides.
When the tree was in the stand Lance let go of it and stood back with the rest of the group to check it out.
“Um guys…” Keeley spoke up.
“What?” Lance asked turning to her with an exasperated look.
“The tree…it’s not um…straight,” she said quietly. She knew she was not their favorite person at the moment, but there was no way she was going to let the tree be crooked all through Christmas.
“Aaghh!” Chris exclaimed as he threw his hands up in the air. “Fine, which way do you think it’s tilting?”
“A little to the left.”
Chris didn’t respond as he got down on his knees and ducked under the tree. He reached the stand and tightened the screw on the left side, pushing the tree toward the right.
“Uh Chris, now it’s tilted to the right side,” she told him.
“Dammit,” they all heard him curse. After tightening the right screw he called to them, “How about now?”
“Um it looks good from the front,” Keeley spoke. She walked to the right side of the tree to see it from a different angle. “But now it’s not straight from this side.” JC followed her and nodded his head.
“She’s right man, it’s really crooked over here.”
“How about now?” Chris said as he popped his head out from under the tree. He gave her a look that clearly said, ‘if you say it’s crooked one more time I’ll make you crooked.’
“Uh,” she said catching the death glare coming her way, “that looks great.”
“Good,” he said firmly as he pulled himself from under the tree. He walked over to the sofa and collapsed on it. “I’m done.”
“Ok, now we need to do the lights,” Monica said clapping her hands together. ‘We’re finally past all the things she can possibly complain about,’ she thought to herself.
Justin and Lance went to the garage to get the box of lights. A minute later they returned carrying a huge Rubbermaid tub.
“What in the world is in that?” Monica asked.
“It’s the lights and the decorations,” Lance told his wife with a smile.
They all began pulling the lights out strand by strand, untangling each as they came to it. Finally they were ready to string the white Christmas lights on the tree.
“You guys remembered to plug them in to try them out first right?” Keeley asked the guys.
“Yep, they’re all checked,” Joey told her.
“Ok, well be sure to make the lights evenly spaced with no bare spots…and be sure not to have any clumps of lights either. Oh yeah and make sure that you end in the back so the plug wont show. And guys….”
Everyone groaned around Keeley. Her faced turned a deep shade of crimson as she looked at all the unpleasant faces she was receiving.
“Uh nevermind.”